The present invention relates to exercise and fitness devices generally and more particularly to those exercise and fitness devices which utilize flexible hand line or ropes. It is readily apparent to one familiar with the art that many exercise devices exist. Some of these incorporate flexible hand lines and most are intended for single user applications. Some two participant exercise devices exist but, as will be more fully disclosed herein, no such two participant exercise devices possess the versatility and adaptability of the present invention. As an example, because of the flexibility of handline adjustment afforded by the present invention, opponents who are not matched in terms of size and/or strength can still profitably utilize it. Further, in operation of the device, opponents are not limited to exercising the same respective muscle groups. That is, one opponent may elect to exercise the musculature of the upper body while the opponent simultaneously performs rowing exercises for the benefit of the lower body musculature.
It is well known in the art of two person exercise inventions that devices exist which achieve a direct linear connection between opponents. These devices permit the opponents to pull against, or resist, force applied by one opponent against the other. Generally, force and resistance to force are transmitted through a moving center of effort along a line or other means directly connecting the opponents.
The game of tug-a-war, for example, is an athletic contest between two teams which haul at the opposite ends of a line, each trying to drag the other over a marker between them. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,411,426, an invention is disclosed which employs two hand line members which may be operated by two or four people in working the lines back and forth through a pulley. As in the case of the tug-a-war, the invention of U.S. Pat. No. 4,411,426, unlike the invention herein disclosed, employs a moving center of effort, i.e. a twin pulley, located between the contestants.
Neither in the case of the classic tug-a-war nor in the invention disclosed in the above mentioned patent is there any capacity for the discrete establishment and variation of the angle of travel and ratio of resistance for any handles or other gripping members. The present invention, on the other hand, permits independent determination of both the angle of travel and ratio of resistance for each of its four handle members by separating and fixing the center of effort of each flexible line in main pulleys attached to external support structures.